Microsoft Launching Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iPad Today

[Renzatic]

They definitely need to add printing and fix a few other issues but overall I am pretty impressed. You can sign up for the trial for 30 days in case you didn't know.

The one biggest omission in my opinion is not being able to pull image files directly from Skydrive. One of the things I didn't like about Pages was how porting an image from your desktop to your iPad was such a convoluted process. Having to open Dropbox, then export your pictures individually from there into your camera roll before being able to open them in Pages just took way too damn long.

When I first opened Word, the one thing I was expecting was it having direct and intimate Skydrive integration right from the start. But...nope. It works the same way there it does in Pages.

It's my one biggest disappointment with it, and it's something I hope MS adds sooner rather than later.

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The only way I've found to get offline access is to "pin" the document in the Recents folder. But this means you have to do it for every file individually. It's a much clumsier implementation than iCloud and iWork.

My experience with it is that it automatically defaults to local storage. You have to tell it to "send to cloud" to get it up on Skydrive.

 

[MisakixMikasa]

Today they deserve an Eddie Haskell smack to the forehead.

Omitting an outright purchase option for home users is inexcusable. Microsoft defenders are talking about how great a "bargain" Office 365 subscription is. And for some it is. But for the rest of us, why not give us a straight-out purchase option? Even it is is costlier to the customer if the customer is willing, why not?

Maybe office for iPad is just an add on service for 365 users or their effort to push 365 subscription. I would love to see Microsoft provide standalone purchase or subscription.

If they simply put $100 Office Suite on App Store, it could be undesirable for most users. Also one purchase give users unlimited access to unlimited number of devices that does not really bring more revenue to Microsoft. In every case, a standalone product may produce less revenue than subscription.

 

[aristotle]

I just don't like having to subscribe. I use Microsoft Office for Mac on my MacBook Pro. It was expensive compared to other Apps for Apple but I only had to buy a license once.

Do you want to get Office for Mac 2014? You are going have to pay again a lot more than 99 bucks. Do you want the next office version after that? Do you want office on any other PC or mac? Even more dollars or 99 bucks per year.

If you only have the cheapest version of Office only for one mac and you don't care to upgrade often then I can see your point.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Again, the big $ for MS is w/ enterprise contracts. The people you are talking about have to either put up or shut up but either way MS (and Adobe for that matter) doesn't care because cumulatively they don't add up to significant revenue. It's tough for us small people to grasp, but it's reality none-the-less.

But having Office for the iPad strengthens the iPad as a professional work creation device & also preserves the Office franchise. If you are in a real business you need Office. Period. That's how everything is distributed.

Their real choices are to put up or buy something else. They've been told that Office is their only choice, but that's aways been a lie.

I am in a real business. I never use Office for anything. Ever. Period.

 

[MisakixMikasa]

The one biggest omission in my opinion is not being able to pull image files directly from Skydrive. One of the things I didn't like about Pages was how porting an image from your desktop to your iPad was such a convoluted process. Having to open Dropbox, then export your pictures individually from there into your camera roll before being able to open them in Pages just took way too damn long.

When I first opened Word, the one thing I was expecting was it having direct and intimate Skydrive integration right from the start. But...nope. It works the same way there it does in Pages.

It's my one biggest disappointment with it, and it's something I hope MS adds sooner rather than later.

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My experience with it is that it automatically defaults to local storage. You have to tell it to "send to cloud" to get it up on Skydrive.

I think these feature maybe added with update in the future. Microsoft is pretty good on updating its softwares.

 

[Rigby]

I wish they would offer some less expensive way to get this for people who already own non-subscription versions of Office for Mac or Windows.

At least Powerpoint is useful in read-only mode as a presenter on the iPad. I tried a few complex presentations with animations etc. and it rendered them perfectly (with the exception of a custom font that was missing on the iPad). I used to convert presentations to PDF for showing on the iPad, this may be good enough to just use the native PPT files.

 

[haruhiko]

Apple is happy today to see Office for the iPad:

1. It confirms iPad's leading position in the Enterprise
2. Apple gets 30% from every in-app purchase
3. It confirms the iPad as a predominant client in the tablet space
4. It is an admission of Microsoft's defeat in mobile. At least they decided to make lots of money out of it!

The next one should be Nintendo.

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Why is it free to use on Android but requires a subscription on istuff?

Free for Android PHONES and iPhone. That's Office for Mobile and it's a totally different software than the full blown Office.

iPad and Android tablet versions require subscription for editing.

 

[tmanto02]

If you took the time to go to the Office 365 website you would see that there is a full 30 day free trial.

I read the information provided to me by MacRumors. I'm in no way required to perform more research before commenting on the topic.

If all you want to do is pointlessly challenge peoples comments perhaps you should try Reddit instead.

 

[haruhiko]

365 isn't an in-app purchase. The Office suite is free to download so that Microsoft don't have to give up that 30% on an initial purchase.

It is and isn't. If you choose to subscribe through the app, Apple gets the cut. If you subscribe through MS's website, Apple doesn't get the cut.

 

[jgc1977]

well they did a better job with the flat design than Jonny did, that's for sure

That is absolutely true! And, by the way, I'm really enjoying the new Word and PowerPoint apps for iPad. They're very comprehensive and very useful. Great day for writers! If the annual subscription seems very expensive to you, you can share the cost among five friends.

 

[TouchMint.com]

This is really great to see. Great for msft and great for aapl =)

 

[Mrjoedot]

F you Microsoft for subscription fee. I don't mind 16.99 for the office but 99.99 is outrageous and ridiculous (

 

[haruhiko]

Just found that if we enabled "Speak Selection" in Settings, General, Accessibility, then when you select cells in Excel for iPad, the context menu will not appear and therefore many of the functions are disabled. Microsoft's documents dp not mention it anywhere. How intuitive

 

[Marc-SP]

Steve Ballmer would never have allowed this

Wow! So they created Office for iPad in 52 days? (time the new CEO has been in charge).

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Read Only for free... Goodnight.

Yep. I don't know why they give that for free to iPad owners but nothing to Windows users or Surface Pro buyers.

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I remember when Microsoft had the "funeral" for the iPhone.

It must be killing those old employees to hear "iPhone" and "iPad" repeated throughout this event!

Still thinking about that 5 years later? MS has changed a lot during that time, but it seems time stood still in your area.

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Hell no I'm not paying a subscription just to be able to edit files on the iPad. That is absurd.

Do you understand that the suscription includes 5 installations of the DESKTOP (pc/mac) versión of Office aside from using it on iPhone and iPad?
Also gives 20GB of independent OneDrive storage to EACH of that 5 users.

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But after a certain period of time then wouldn't you be paying more than the outright cost? The outright is $140. So then after 14 months of 365 you'd just be paying more. Unless it's different?

Well, the small detail that you can install Office for 5 users, and you get 20GB of (independent) OneDrive space for each.

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I just realized this isn't going to help me on my iPhone (those few times I might need it). I'm still going to need a third-party viewer for my phone....

Gary

Office for iPhone was released some time ago, and now...
"Version 1.1 of [iPhone Office] for iOS 7 [...] removes the Office subscription requirement. Viewing and editing of documents stored in OneDrive is now free to anybody with a [free] Microsoft account, regardless of their subscription status."
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/03/microsoft-brings-word-excel-and-powerpoint-to-the-ipad-today/

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No shock there.

Like he never strongly criticised any MS product
Very recent example: http://winsupersite.com/xbox-one/if-microsoft-doesnt-fix-xbox-one-reputation-im-out

Sometime I even thought he was a double agent

 

[ScottNWDW]

I think this is mainly a case of people not understanding the subscription price. They are looking at it being $99 just to use the iPad version.

The subscription is for 5 installs of the most up to date Microsoft Office on either Mac or Windows machines. If you have both Mac and a Windows machine, then you get Office for Mac and Office for Windows. When new versions are released, you get the updates free.

You also get to use the subscription on up to 5 tablets. Whether they be iPads, iPad mini's or Surface or any other windows based tablets.

Taking into consideration that the versions of the desktop are for the Mac, the full business solution - the one with Outlook not the Home and Student version that did not include Outlook. For the PC, it's the full Professional version, the one that included Publish, Access etc, not the home and student version which only included Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and OneNote.

Now take a look at the pricing: Office for Windows Professional, the upgrade price alone was close to $300 - that was for 1 install, for the Mac the business version was around $250, also for 1 install. that's $550 right there.

Now they upgrade these suites about every 3 years, well when you take that $550 and divide it into 3 years you are coming out to almost slightly over $180 a year. that's a lot more than $99 a year to have the latest versions.

Oh and I forgot to mention that it also includes 60 minutes a month of Skype, if you use it, personally I don't but it is there if you use it, AND 20 GB of extra OneDrive space over the free 7GB you get when you set up an account. Check your iCloud subscription, yes you get I believe 5GB free, but if you want that same extra 20GB of extra space, guess what it's about $50 a year, now add that to your annual cost as well and you are over $225 a year.

An Office 365 subscription therefore is a GREAT deal. I despise Microsoft, but I do love Office and I notice a good deal when I see it. Being able to use MS Office across ALL my devices, MacBook Pro, Windows Laptop, iPad, iPad mini and iPhone, is GREAT and to know that I will have the latest versions on each platform (Windows, MacOS and iOS) is well worth $99 a year.

 

[Pewpewpew]

Can anyone confirm if you can auto filter in excel?

 

[iorangutan]

Office for iPad - great! Charging US$100/year to use - not so great.

Microsoft penalises all of us who have forked out US$600 for the full version of Office Professional outright, by forcing us to spend another US$100/year to be able to use it on an iPad. Outrageous.

 

[ScottNWDW]

Microsoft penalises all of us who have forked out US$600 for the full version of Office Professional outright, by forcing us to spend another US$100/year to be able to use it on an iPad. Outrageous.

When Office 2013 came out so did Office 365, if you chose to purchase the full version rather than subscribe why is that Microsoft's fault? The choice was there.

Now if you are not using Office 2013, then it's time to upgrade. I still don't see how that is Microsoft's fault.

 

[haruhiko]

Can anyone confirm if you can auto filter in excel?

Yes. Just select the cells and tap on the filter icon on the top right and enable "filter".

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Microsoft penalises all of us who have forked out US$600 for the full version of Office Professional outright, by forcing us to spend another US$100/year to be able to use it on an iPad. Outrageous.

Anyway I just find it unbelievable for a home user to spend US$600 for the professional version of Office.

 

[EvilEvil]

So the Verge reporting it's completely free is false?

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/27/5555330/microsoft-makes-office-mobile-completely-free

 

[That-Guy]

So the Verge reporting it's completely free is false?

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/27/5555330/microsoft-makes-office-mobile-completely-free

That's office for mobile not office for iOS.

The mobile version is a very basic version which is not very feature rich.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Their real choices are to put up or buy something else. They've been told that Office is their only choice, but that's aways been a lie.

I am in a real business. I never use Office for anything. Ever. Period.

Your anecdotal stories, notwithstanding, there are, of course, always outliers and also depends on the nature of company. Nothing is 100%. But most enterprise (Fortune 500) regards Office as the standard office suite, as do the accounting and legal professions which cover offices of every size. Yes, there are other office suite choices, but Office has been the stalwart for sometime now. (When I started my practice, believe it or not, paperwork had to be submitted to the local courts in Word Perfect! But even back then that was the exception. Office was the mainstay, but the Court is alway slow to change).

But for proof just read any of Microsoft's 10Ks from the past few years to understand enterprise is MS's business model now, with great earnings to show for it (10% growth last Q). You don't get that kind of growth because the vast majority of major companies don't use your product.

 

[G51989]

Hmm, I will certainly at least try Word as that still seems to be the standard format for pretty much any text document.

However, I think it's too little, too late as iWork is actually really, really good on the iPad.

Not really, iWork isn't a standard of anything, and it isn't very good.

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I can't see any iPad users wanting this when they already have access to the best mobile productivity tools in Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

Are you out of your mind?

I love my Apple products, but iWork is just, junk compared to Office.

 

[SeanR1]

This may have been mentioned, I didn't read all 8 pages on tapatalk.

Can someone explain why Word and Excel would need a front facing camera to install?

Thanks!

 

[D.T.]

At least Powerpoint is useful in read-only mode as a presenter on the iPad. I tried a few complex presentations with animations etc. and it rendered them perfectly (with the exception of a custom font that was missing on the iPad). I used to convert presentations to PDF for showing on the iPad, this may be good enough to just use the native PPT files.

Same here (including exporting to PDF for PPTs on the iPad) - it’s the first thing I tried and they all looked and worked perfectly.

If we could get an adhoc[-like] configuration for the AppleTV, that would make for a very portable, very slick presentation setup (granted, an AirPort express doesn’t add a significant amount of extra equipment, but it’s silly it can’t be done with just iOS + ATV ...)